


out in the open

by olrazzzledazzzle



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Coming Out, Cute, Fluff, M/M, Mild Angst, after 3x13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 02:39:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18356918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olrazzzledazzzle/pseuds/olrazzzledazzzle
Summary: the way i want post 3x13 tyrus to go





	out in the open

**Author's Note:**

> this was so quick and that’s rly all i have to say, thanks for reading !! my tumblr is @/myman-teej so u should go talk to me !! :))

“she blackmailed me”  
“what’d she say?”   
“it’s embarrassing/personal/i don’t wanna talk about it”   
-  
all i can say is uhhh,,, Cyrus Snaps   
————  
 _This is it_ , Cyrus thought, _this is the worst day of my life_. 

No, it wasn’t the day of the dance final where he humiliated himself in front of his whole class, or the day he saw Amber and Jonah kiss ( _bleh!_ ), or even the day he puked in his shoe in front of his girlfriend and friends. 

Today far exceeds any of those. 

Today, one of the most important people in his life ditched Cyrus for someone else for a costume. 

And it absolutely _sucked_! 

He’d given T.J. a chance, hell, he’d given him a _multitude_ of chances during the past few months, but this…this felt like the final straw.

The story goes like this: a few days ago, T.J. asked Cyrus if he wanted to participate in costume day with him (T.J. suggested “summer salt”...but it’s an inside joke). Of course Cyrus was ecstatic (why wouldn't he be?!) and quickly agreed, then got right to planning as soon as he got home. It basically took him the whole entire night to convince his mom to use the pasta strainer for the lid of the salt shaker, but once he’d gotten the go-ahead, he was even more excited than ever! 

After all, who wouldn’t be? He was getting the opportunity to dress up with one of his best friends (it’s _not_ a crush, though!) and he wanted it to be perfect!

Then, after a restless night of being so excited he couldn’t sleep, Cyrus woke up and walked out the door, proudly wearing the silver pasta-strainer atop his head with pride as he marched to school. 

Little did he know he’d wake up to the _worst day ever_. 

Regardless, when he got to school to find T.J. sporting his regular hoodie and some regular pants instead of the tank top and board shorts he was meant to be wearing, it properly broke Cyrus’s heart. It felt akin to the day Jonah decided he didn’t want to match Cyrus with their hoodies, and it’s obvious how that turned out… 

“Hey, where’s...your costume?” God, he could hardly believe it. How could T.J. do this? “Without you, this is embarrassingly straight-”

“I — I was going to call —”

“Come on, Kippen, let’s see it!” 

Kira…? 

Cyrus hesitantly looked back and forth between Kira — he’s gotten bad vibes from her since day one — and T.J. — who looked as though he wanted to drop dead right there — as they simultaneously unzipped their jackets. 

“Double dribble! Get it?” 

“Uh, no, actually?” 

“Come on, let's go show the guys on your team!”

“Sorry, it was a last minute decision — I should’ve called…” 

As Kira pulled T.J. away from Cyrus, his eyes fell. This couldn’t be happening to him.

“I’m sorry.”  
————  
“Cyrus!” 

Cyrus knew that voice anywhere, and he immediately dragged his feet along the ground to stop himself from swinging anymore. 

He’s been spending a lot of time here lately, needless to say. It was the only place that was really making him feel happy. 

(Coincidentally or not, this sort of was T.J.’s place, too…)

“I don’t really want to talk to you right now.” 

What worried T.J. most about that statement was the fact that it was now bordering on almost two weeks that Cyrus hasn’t wanted to talk to him about what happened, and he was worried that Cyrus would eventually decide he’d never want to let T.J. explain himself. 

“Cyrus, please —”

“I’m really being serious, T.J., I don’t want to talk about it!”

T.J. figured Cyrus had given him more than enough second chances, more than enough necessary opportunities to explain himself over stupid things over the duration of their friendship, and he was done with T.J. for good, now. 

God, how had T.J. even let it go this far? 

One minute, he had had everything — he was at the top of the world! — and now, he’d let his and Cyrus’s friendship slip right through his fingers faster than he’d ever noticed — and if he had, God knows he wouldn’t have had an idea on how to fix it before it was too late. 

“Is this really it, then? You just won’t let me talk — _at all?_ ” 

“Nope.” 

Cyrus had his arms crossed over his chest — his heart was racing with adrenaline and he kind of felt like the shittiest person in the entire world for acting this way — but T.J. deserved it. If he wanted —

God, if he wanted to bail on Cyrus for _Kira_ , he figured it’d be fair enough for T.J. to get a taste of his own medicine. 

“Please, Cy?” 

Momentarily, a flash of sympathy ignited in Cyrus’s eyes, but it was gone as soon as it came. He didn’t feel guilty over this. Not after he’d gotten this far, because he was still _mad_ at T.J., goddammit! T.J. needed to learn that he wasn’t just someone you could take advantage of, play around with and then leave him hanging! 

(This totally wasn’t all of the pep-talking from Andi and Buffy speaking...definitely not.) 

“No.” 

T.J. was bordering on desperate. He couldn’t lose arguably the most important person in his life to some stupid idea that went awry, some stupid costume day, some _stupid girl_! 

T.J.’s lip trembled slightly, and he figured he may as well do it now while Cyrus was here. 

“I —”

Cyrus waited, looking at T.J. with slimmed, accusatory eyes, almost glaring right into his soul. One beat passed, then another, and another. 

_Kira was going to out me_ , T.J. tried to say, but the words crumbled in his throat and his hands got sweaty and in the end, no words ended up coming out at all. 

“It’s embarrassing.” 

“Whatever, T.J.”

And with that, Cyrus walked away. Away from the swings, away from the park, away from T.J.. 

He may as well told T.J. he never wanted to see his face again, because that’s exactly how it felt. 

_How could he have let this happen?_  
————  
Both Andi and Buffy knew how terribly this was affecting Cyrus, but that didn’t mean they were going to give up this far in. T.J. hasn’t changed since Buffy first met him, and now that he was out for her best friend with zero explanation? Not happening. 

“I saw T.J. today.” 

“Cyrus!” 

“Hear me out! I — I was at the park, and he just _came up_ and tried talking to me, but I —I didn’t let him.” 

Each of the girls let out sighs of relief. T.J. wasn’t worth Cyrus’s time and heartbreak. 

“But I…I almost didn’t. I was so close to letting him talk to me again, but I…I couldn’t! I couldn’t do that to you guys. Plus, I mean — what could he _possibly_ have to ‘explain himself’ with!? There’s nothing! He didn’t want to do it with me — he’d rather do it with Kira, obviously, and he doesn’t actually like me, and how could I have been so _naïve_?! I never want to talk to him again, I really don’t think I do. I thought he was different now, Buffy, I just...” 

Cyrus didn’t know how much of that he really meant. 

Buffy sat silently for a moment, looking across the room to Andi, who wore the same expression of concern on her face. Cyrus literally didn’t mean a single word he just said — if he really never wanted to talk to T.J. again or get an explanation, he would’ve stopped being bothered by it _weeks_ ago. 

“You really need to talk to him, Cy.”

Cyrus looked over to Andi, an absolutely aghast look of terror on his face. “I am _not_ talking to him!”

“You’re just driving yourself crazy, Cy! This…this is exactly how you acted —”

Cyrus narrowed his eyes at Buffy, while Andi gave out a small, confused giggle. “What…were you going to say, Buffy?” 

“With Jonah.” 

Cyrus’s eyes widened as quickly as they’d narrowed and he sputtered silently, shocked Buffy would even dare say that in front of Andi. “Buffy!” 

“It’s true! You — ”

“Oh my God, Cyrus —” 

“You like T.J.!” Both girls said simultaneously. 

“I do _not_!” 

“Yes you do! You’re acting the exact same as you did with Jonah! You — you’d be mad at him, and you’d say you didn’t want to see him, and then it’d be ridiculously obvious that you were lying because you _liked_ him! You obviously care about T.J. and you _know_ you want to know why he really did it —”

“You need to go and talk to him!” 

Cyrus hesitated for a moment. “I do, don’t I?”   
————  
Saturday morning rolled around faster than Cyrus would’ve liked, because while he was over the moon excited to see T.J. for real for the first time in two weeks, he was also insanely nervous. The butterflies in his stomach were unreal! 

He asked T.J. to meet him today at eleven at the swingset, but he arrived early enough that the butterflies would hopefully have a bit of time to subside before T.J. arrived. 

Unfortunately...it seemed T.J. had that same idea… 

“Cyrus…?” 

Cyrus froze once again. T.J. always came from the opposite park entrance he did, and he’d always call out his name as he was approaching as a surprise. It was one of their _things_ , and it was really exciting most of the time, but today…

“Hey, T.J.” 

T.J. walked closer, slowly, and he seemed to have lost any and all confidence he’d ever had. He looked destroyed. 

Cyrus couldn’t help the little pang of guilt in his chest that signified he’d done this to his friend. God, he was so terrible! 

“Look, I —”

“I’m so sorry, T.J., ignoring you was…was dumb of me, and I know I really shouldn’t have done it, but I was really hurt and —”

T.J. frowned at Cyrus briefly. “I came to apologize to you, Cy…?” 

Cyrus sat down on one of the swings, then looked over at the other one as if to invite T.J. to sit down next to him. “I know, but I’m really sorry, too. I wanted to talk to you, really, but Andi and Buffy…” 

“Shocker.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” T.J. said slowly, voice low. “I really am, I…I thought I’d be able to tell you, but I was so _scared_ of what you’d say, and I feel so awful about not letting you know. I should’ve called. I really should’ve.” 

“I forgive you, I sort of miss, uh, spending time here…with you?”

T.J. felt a small smile tug at the side of his lips. “Me too.” 

“What happened, T.J.?” 

T.J.’s smile faltered. 

“Is it really that bad?” 

“I thought I’d have enough time to get the courage to explain it to you by now, especially considering I’ve gone through the endless possibilities of this conversation a thousand times already, but…”

Cyrus furrowed his eyebrows. It must be really bad. 

“You can tell me, T.J.. I won’t judge you, if that’s what you’re worried about.” 

T.J. swallowed thickly. “She — she was going to blackmail me if I didn’t do the costume with her, Cyrus. I couldn’t —”

“What do you mean? What does she even have to blackmail you with?” 

“It’s embarrassing. And stupid. I really didn’t think you’d listen to me far enough to get this far into the conversation…” 

“You can tell me anything, T.J.. God knows I really have no room to judge you. You _do_ know who you’re talking to, right? The Jewish nerd who can’t dance to save his life? The one who puked in his shoe in front of his girlfriend? Or how about the guy who’s best sport is ping pong?” 

T.J. out a half-laugh, but that quickly diminished. “You have a girlfriend?” 

Cyrus let out a short laugh. “God, no, not anymore. She was cool, but I didn’t like her like that. At all. Trust me.” 

T.J. exhaled lightly, giving Cyrus a short nod. He could deal with that. 

“Hey, you can’t just change the subject on me, Teej!”

“‘Teej’, really?” 

“Uh huh! Now, please explain what happened. I need to know.” 

T.J. swallowed again, then looked away from Cyrus, rather opting to look down at the ground as he kicked the rocks under his feet back and forth. “I don’t know, she just…she didn’t want me to do it with you.” 

“With me? Why?” 

A deep inhale, followed by, “‘Cause you’re a boy, Cyrus. She didn’t want me to do a costume with a boy. That’s…that’s why.” 

Cyrus stared blankly at T.J. for a few moments. The air was thicker than it had been prior to the confession. God, T.J. really did ruin everything good he had, huh? Cyrus probably absolutely hated him now. 

“Because I’m a boy? How is that embarrassing? Or…or blackmail? I’m not — I’m not following.”

“Because she thinks I _like_ you, Cyrus!” 

Then, Cyrus shut his mouth. 

That was the blackmail, then. T.J., he...he liked him? 

“You…do you?” 

T.J. sat silently on the swing, and Cyrus could’ve sworn he heard a small hiccup come from the other side of the structure. “I don’t…I don’t know, Cy— I don’t even know if I — if I like, uh,” T.J. hesitated slowly, his eyes still glaring down at the ground, “if I like _boys_ , okay? A — and if she told everyone that because I did the costume with _you_ , I don’t know…what I would’ve done. I’m sorry, if…if you hate me, it’s fine —”

He didn’t dare look up at Cyrus, not once. 

“I’d never hate you ‘cause of that, T.J..” 

T.J. let out a small laugh, “Why not? I probably would.” 

“Because…because I’m a good person — or at least, I hope I am. If you do — y’know, end up liking boys — or, uh, me — it’s alright. I promise.” 

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t tell her anything, but she just…acted like she could see right through me. I was so scared. I didn’t want you to hate me even more, and, y’know, it was just the easiest thing to do? If I could do it over, I would.” 

“I get it.” 

“How could you ever get it?” 

“I — I like boys, too.” 

For the first time since T.J. had spoken, his head shot up to look at Cyrus. “What do you mean?” 

“I don’t think it could get any more explanatory, what I just said.” 

“Are you kidding?” 

“No! I liked Jonah for a _long_ time, ‘nd then I kind of got over him, and I guess I sort of like someone else now…?” 

God, Cyrus was being ridiculously spontaneous and…this was very unlike him, fully honestly. 

“Who…?”

“Uh...his name rhymes with Snee-Kay Tippin?” 

“Cyrus…” 

“Yes…?” 

Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have said that. 

“You like _me_?! Why wouldn’t you tell me?” 

“I guess — I guess I do, yeah…? Andi and Buffy told me I did on Friday. It made perfect sense, I guess? I didn’t think I would tell you in the first place, so we’re already further than I expected. Do you like _me_ , now that my feelings are all out in the open?” 

“Yeah. Yeah, I - I definitely do.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah.”

And that was that.


End file.
